


Visions of Arda: Tolkien Fanart Vol. IV

by Alystraea



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Aman (Tolkien), Babies, Eryn Galen (The Greenwood), Fellowship of the Ring, Female Friendship, Gen, Gondolin, Halls of Mandos, Rivendell | Imladris
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:13:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 1,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26924164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alystraea/pseuds/Alystraea
Summary: Five years into the art hobby and I'm still drawing elves! Think it'll be mostly House of Finwë, with forays into Gondolin and Imladris.
Relationships: Anairë & Eärwen (Tolkien), Caranthir | Morifinwë/Haleth of the Haladin, Finrod Felagund | Findaráto & Turgon of Gondolin, Thranduil/Thranduil's Wife
Comments: 128
Kudos: 154





	1. Best friends - Anaire and Earwen

"Fingolfin's wife Anaire refused to leave Aman, largely because of her friendship with Earwen wife of Arafinwe (though she was a Noldo and not one of the Teleri)." ( _Peoples of Middle Earth_ , _HoME Vol. 12)_

Here's a hasty drawing of Anairë and Eärwen for Finwean Ladies Week on tumblr.

I should _not_ be drawing now, I should be preparing work for next week. But I have been wanting to draw this for the longest time, because I love their friendship, and I love that they were pregnant at the same time _twice,_ first with Turgon and Finrod, then with Aredhel and Galadriel. I always think that either they were already besties and planned it, or that must have been what sealed their friendship. 

Here they are with babies Turgon and Finrod. Finrod has decided from the get-go that Turgon is his favourite person. 


	2. Glorfindel with Elrond and Gandalf

It began as a bigger piece with the Hall of Fire in the background (for Imladris Week last year)... but I suck at architecture. o_O 

Going to be pulling out unfinished pieces from folders over the next few months and trying to salvage them. I think this burst of artistic energy over the weekend came because I couldn't face grading student reports!


	3. Glorfindel and Asfaloth

So I spent my weekend painting instead of working. I'll pay for it tomorrow when I have to face my mountain of work, but I think it was worth it. 

This was another piece that has been in my folders for a long time. I'm having a Glorfindel mood. 

"Suddenly into view below came a white horse, gleaming in the shadows, running swiftly. In the dusk its headstall flickered and flashed, as if it were studded with gems like living stars. The rider's cloak streamed behind him, and his hood was thrown back; his golden hair flowed shimmering in the wind of his speed." (Fellowship of the Ring)


	4. Maeglin Lomion

Exhausted after a heavy week of work. Looked through a few folders and found the energy to redraw [an old piece of Maeglin](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6168586/chapters/16044598). Because I need to make art.

Maeglin - son of twilight, Lord of the Mole, traitor of Gondolin and its youngest lord. I never liked him till I discovered fanfic six years ago, and read EbonyKitty552's Silmarillion Prompts. Their vignettes on Maeglin threw me down the rabbit hole of writing my own fanfic, and then taking up drawing... and to this day I'm still amazed that I'm doing this.

There was a time a few years back when I mentioned my new hobby to a couple of colleagues, but received looks of such utter bewilderment that I resolved never to speak of it again. They like me when I talk about gardening and cooking and home improvements, and post my attempts to grow veggies, and make kimchi or natto or kombucha. Yup, good ol' gender stereotypes. But any mention of fantasy, elves, or digital art, and I get the You Need Help look.

It would seem that in order to maintain a professional image and continue to be taken seriously by others in RL, all these fangirly things of mine have to be a secret I share online only with you guys. So thanks for being here, on this page, at this moment, looking at this art. It means a lot to me.


	5. Thingol in Mandos

So this is a bit of a rough sketch, as you can tell. Thingol and Melian in Mandos are watching the reunion of Olwe and Elmo. We're never told what happened to Elmo, so I've decided he sailed West after the War of Wrath. (This art was the result of an unusual request on tumblr for Thingol with his brothers in Mandos, and this was my compromise, since I wanted to keep Olwe and Elmo alive.)


	6. Book!Thranduil and his Queen

I'm very low profile on tumblr, so I was pleasantly surprised to receive a second anonymous art request, this time for Book!Thranduil and his wife. 

Ah, how I love Book!Thranduil, a wise king with a heart of gold. We know nothing of his wife, but I think it very possible that she was a Wood Elf of the Greenwood, since she and Thranduil gave their son a name in the Silvan dialect (“Legolas” rather than the pure Sindarin “Laegolas”) and Legolas repeatedly refers to himself as a Silvan elf rather than a Sinda. There's no reason to think she would not have been alive during the War of the Ring. Legolas in LotR is a light-hearted and cheerful character who doesn't seem to have any shadow of tragedy over him, and many things point to his being a relatively young elf born in the Third Age and with no memory of the sorrowful losses of the Last Alliance and the fall of his grandfather. 


	7. Glorfindel and His Dirk

I'm trying to restart the Lords of Gondolin project I began a few years ago. The idea is to draw each Lord with a symbol of his house and his weapon, if it receives mention in the Fall of Gondolin. 

So here is Glorfindel with golden flowers, and his dirk. I decided it had to be his dirk, because [I've already drawn him with his sword](https://www.deviantart.com/annamare/art/Glorfindel-battles-the-Balrog-697986737), and the dirk deserves some honor for taking down the balrog:

> _Then Glorfindel's left hand sought a dirk, and this he thrust up that it pierced the Balrog’s belly nigh his own face (for that demon was double his stature); and it shrieked, and fell backwards from the rock, and falling clutched Glorfindel's yellow locks beneath his cap, and those twain fell into the abyss. (The Fall of Gondolin)_

I have to say this is not really the way I imagine Glorfindel in my head. With Glorfindel there's always an unbridgeable gap between my idea of him and my drawing of him, and there's nothing for it but to keep on trying.


	8. Galdor of the Tree

Hope that everyone is keeping safe and well!

Part of my Lords of Gondolin series, in which each lord is drawn with an emblem of his house and/or his characteristic weapon. Here is Galdor the "most valiant" of the Lords after Turgon, and the only one to survive the First Age apart from Tuor. Deciding on a design for his "iron-studded club" that would look more elvish was the biggest challenge, and in the end it turned out looking a lot like a Japanese kanabo.

It seems oddly typical of a Tolkien tale that the most lauded heroes of Gondolin (Ecthelion and Glorfindel) should not be the bravest characters (Galdor and Turgon), nor the strongest (Rog), nor the swiftest (Duilin). Ecthelion was known for his beautiful voice, and Glorfindel for his hair, but in the end they did the deeds of greatest renown. 

I wrote Galdor as a redhead in _The Golden and the Black,_ and ever since then I've been unable to see him with dark hair, unfortunately. I'll headcanon that his father was a kinsman of Mahtan. :)


	9. Turgon

Turgon with Glamdring. I usually think of him in dark red or blue, but since the _Fall of Gondolin_ describes him as “robed in white with a belt of gold, and a coronet of garnets was upon his head", this is my compromise.   
  
Part of my Lords of Gondolin series; four houses down, eight to go! Will be taking a break from Gondolin after this, and hopefully will make more headway next year.  
  
Hope your holidays wherever you are will be safe and as happy as can be. Take care, everyone.


	10. Duilin of the Swallow

Hope everyone had a good Christmas and is keeping well! Here is the fifth of my Lords of Gondolin series, and the last I'll be doing for the foreseeable future as I go back to work next week. A re-do of an [earlier Duilin](https://www.deviantart.com/annamare/art/Duilin-Lord-of-the-Swallow-655788156) done in 2017.

We don't know much about Duilin save that he was "swiftest of all men to run and leap and surest of archers at a mark" and his people went to war with feathers in their helms ( _Fall of Gondolin_ ). The last detail is the manner of his death - he was killed by an enemy bolt.


	11. Age Before Beauty (Haleth and Caranthir)

A few years ago, a kind commenter on _The Golden and the Black_ recommended this brilliant fanfic one-shot <https://archiveofourown.org/works/5583697> to me. (If you happen to see this, please give me a shout so I can thank you!) So when I received a request for Haleth on Tumblr, this was the first image that came to mind. I'm not sure if the requester liked it, but I had fun doing it.   
  
As the author put in her tags on AO3: "turns out the laws and customs of men include something called a one night stand"; "Caranthir should have checked that first"; "that time Haleth accidentally married elf royalty and didn't notice".  
  
The writing of this one-shot is fantastic. The account has now been orphaned, to my great grief, and although I remember the name of the author and know the real-life name she now writes under as a published author, since she has chosen to orphan the account and distance herself from these works of hers, I will respect that and not mention it. Long may she write.


End file.
